by Sky Winters
“Save yourself,” I growled. His wide eyes lost all light of hope, and the white wolf finished the job, tearing out the man's throat. The huge creature took a glance at me trembling in the carriage and then disappeared, bounding deep into the woods.
***
I don't know how long it was that I sat amongst the carnage, in shock and terrified to move lest the wolf see me and change its mind about attacking. I whispered for help, wishing that the escort might hear me. The bandit had surely slit his throat, and I gazed into the full, round moon, wishing more than anything that I could return home to the lowlands.
Suddenly, I heard a twig snap and gasped involuntarily. Another man was coming toward me. I squinted into the darkness, sure that I was about to encounter another enemy. As the man entered my view, I was taken aback. I had never seen a creature like this before. He glanced in concern from me to the corpse of the man lying on the ground.
“Are you, all right?” he asked, in a low, rumbling voice. Somehow, I was instantly comforted.
“I want to go home,” I said, purposely avoiding the question. I didn't know if I was all right or not. I just knew I was tired.
A gentle grin creased his broad, handsome face. I stared at him, unable to take my eyes away. He approached me cautiously, stepping over the brute's body.
“And where is that, love?” he asked.
“The lowlands,” I said, my eyes brimming with tears.
He glided into the seat beside me and wrapped his muscular arm comfortingly around me.
“You're a long way from home, love,” he said softly, pressing me close against his firm chest. He laid his cheek against me, and although I had never been so near a man like this before, I didn't feel threatened. I could feel his stubble against my skin, and the friction sent a small thrill through me. “But I can take you to the closest settlement to here. You're going to be all right. I'll see to it.”
He squeezed my shoulder and abruptly stood, climbing into the driver's seat of the carriage. I felt suddenly cold without the warmth of his body near me, and the absurd thought crossed my mind then that I had never felt so lonely. I considered telling him that Lord Lachlan was expecting me, but I felt reluctant to unveil the importance of my rank, just in case the man was untrustworthy.
I heard a whinny and the carriage jolted forward. I sighed, staring at the man's golden hair as it swayed against his shoulders. It was long, thick and curly, braided on one side. I gazed at him, my eyes growing heavier and heavier until I was lulled into a deep sleep by the gentle rocking of the carriage.
Chapter 4
When I awoke, I was in a cot. The chill in my bones was unbelievable. I sat up quickly, disoriented and looked about me. I was in a small tent. There was rustling outside, and I groaned, wishing I could remove my corset. It was bound far too tightly for my comfort.
“Good morning, miss,” a shrill woman's voice said to me. Somehow, I had missed her sitting in the corner of the tent. She stood, offering me a dirty cup full of milk. I was tempted to resist it, but suddenly felt overwhelmed with thirst.
I drank deeply and handed the empty cup back to her.
“Thank you,” I said, looking down at the ground. It embarrassed me to look at her, dressed as strangely as she was. It appeared she wore no corset at all, and had a simple dress of white plaid, bound with a brass buckle over her breasts. She saw me looking and quirked an eyebrow. Suddenly I realized that she could help me. “I was wondering...can you help me out of my corset? I can hardly breathe.”
A pink blush colored her cheeks and she nodded.
“D'you want the flap drawn then?” she asked, gesturing to the opening in the tent. I nodded, and she closed it quickly. Her fingers worked nimbly on the strings of my corset and I was suddenly exposed in the cool morning air.
“I'm afraid none of my clothes will be warm enough,” I mumbled, digging through my bag. The woman quirked a smile.
“I suppose we could get you a spare tartan,” she said thoughtfully. “You got a lowlander's constitution.”
I couldn't help but feel offended as she disappeared out of the tent. She appeared a few moments later with bulky fabric in her arms.
“I'll show you how,” she said. “My name's Winny, by the way.”
“Thank you,” I said. “My name is Bethia. Do you know where I am?”
“You're right where you're supposed to be,” Winny said.
I pursed my lips. That wasn't the answer I'd been hoping for.
“Well there you are,” she said, studying her handiwork. “Let's get you out to breakfast before they start asking questions.”
I followed Winny out of the tent and toward a large camp fire. The smell of meat cooking brought rumbles of hunger to my stomach, and she gestured for me to take my place on a felled tree. There were several people sitting around us, and many of the men stared at me as I gazed around the circle. Their inappropriate interest made me uncomfortable. I could tell what most of them were thinking. It was no different from what other men and boys had always thought of me. Fortunately, I'd had Kain to protect me most of our lives. Now I was alone.
Finally, Winny returned to my side. She brought me a bowl full of porridge and I ate ravenously. I heard a chuckle from across the fire and looked up to meet the eyes of the man who had saved me the night before.
“Easy, love, you don't want to choke.”
The grin on his face brought a blush to my own, and the men around him laughed quietly.
“Welcome to my clan, Lady Bethia,” he said with a low bow.
I froze, realization suddenly dawning on me.
“Lord Lachlan?” I asked, nearly choking on the bite of porridge I had in my mouth.
The men surrounding us cackled. Lord Lachlan's eyes danced behind the firelight. Suddenly I no longer felt hungry. I stood and glared at him.
“I'll have you know I didn't agree to this union. If it were up to me, I'd still be back home, where it's warm. Not out here with you and your band of heathens. Did you see how they were looking at me? But what do you care – you have what you want. Yes, you may be able to marry me, but I'd like you to do me a favor and leave me alone.”
I turned my back on him and headed back to the safety of the tent where I had woken up. I could feel his eyes burning into my back, but I didn't turn around. The men were in a clamor now.
“You should put that whelp in her place,” one man exclaimed. “She shouldn't be talking to you like that, Lord Lachlan.”
“No,” I heard his low voice murmur. “She's been through a lot. Let her be.”
Chapter 5
As the week went by, I slowly realized that living in the camp with none of the civil luxuries of the lowlands was going to be my life. It was very cold, but nobody seemed to care or suggest we take shelter in a more heated abode. The men were all larger and more broad and muscular than any other people I had ever seen, and even the women were thick and sturdy, beautiful in their own fierce way. One of them, Jeila, had her eyes on Lord Lachlan, and seethed at me any chance she could.
“I hear you two are going to tie the knot,” she said, sitting a little too close to me one evening at the fire, her dark eyes narrowed.
“I hear the same thing,” I said, not looking up from the plate of fish and cheese on my plate.
“He's not going to be happy with you for long,” she laughed. “You're too small. Most times the little ones like you don't get any husbands. You make poor, weak stock. Not cut out for the mountains.”
“Great, maybe I'll get to go home then,” I said, glaring at Lord Lachlan from across the fire. He stopped chewing and stared levelly at me. He hadn't approached me since my outburst the week before, though I knew that wedding plans were in the works whether I was involved in them or not.
Lord Lachlan looked away from me, distracted by a question from the man beside him.
“Did you hear the ghosts talking last night?” the man asked. “They've been restless since Lady Bethia arrived. Maybe they think the lowlanders are b
ad luck.”
I glowered down at my food. It wasn't bad enough that I didn't want to be there. If nobody else wanted me to be there either, I had a hard time seeing the point of staying. It was generally terrible for everybody involved. But the peace treaty had been signed, and as decreed, my life was now in the mountains.
“I did,” Lord Lachlan answered, to my surprise. The strange superstitions of the highlanders were peculiar, but they all seemed to believe in the ghosts in the hills. Even with all their might, the ghosts held power over their conduct. And they were certainly mighty. I had seen the men training a few days beforehand. Their rippling muscles and fierce expressions were intimidating to me.
“I spoke with one of them. A bad omen. It has nothing to do with the lowlanders, this much I am sure of.”
The group quietly mulled the news over, looking down into their plates.
“He's probably just saying that because you're right here,” Jelia hissed to me. “He doesn't want to hurt your delicate lowlander feelings.”
“Lord Lachlan has no reason to flatter me,” I said, looking squarely into her eyes. For some reason this woman would not let up on me, and her foolish, immature games were starting to wear on my nerves.
Lord Lachlan seemed to sense his name rolling off my lips, because he looked again at me.
“The spirits told me that Lady Bethia would bring us good fortune, actually,” he said, directly to me, his handsome face glowing gold in the firelight. “I have no reason to believe otherwise.”
We gazed at each other and I felt a tugging deep within me to go to him and take my rightful place beside my betrothed. It certainly would make Jelia seethe with jealousy if I did so. But still, I didn't trust him, and resented more than anything that I was to be traded as if I were some pawn in a game I wanted nothing to do with. The only reason I was there was to save people like Kain, not to be some blushing bride to a brutish highlander. What did I care if I brought them luck? They could all rot for all I cared.
Unfortunately, the power of my anger was waning the longer I was in their camp. Everybody had been more than accommodating, and many were even apologetic about their lifestyle, begging my forgiveness for their peculiar habits and customs. They claimed to hate lowlanders, but they were more courteous and thoughtful of me than even my own parents had been. It must have been something in their breeding.
***
Because of their kind treatment toward me, I thought that perhaps they were all very welcoming of outsiders, until one day my opinion of this changed. I was in my tent with Winny, who had taken to keeping me company as I attempted to avoid the rest of the highlanders. Suddenly, a loud rallying cry roused us to our feet.
“It's the O'Connell clan,” Winny said, pale-faced. “We don't allow any encroachment here, no, that's not allowed.”
The fierce men ran past the open flap of the tent. I approached the opening to watch as they sped off together toward the breach. Following up behind the men was Lord Lachlan, who had just finished bathing. He had barely put his kilt on before following the men to the disturbance. I couldn't take my eyes off his broad chest as he ran toward me, his eyes fully focused on the scene ahead of him. I was entranced, despite myself, by his hulking, rippling body barreling forward, his bare muscles tense and threatening to tear apart any threat to his clan.
He passed the tent without any indication of having seen me, and I watched his long hair swaying, still wet from bathing. It flew behind him, some strands slapping against his muscular back. I turned to Winny, who was watching the men running off with a look I found difficult to pinpoint. It seemed there were elements of fear, certainly, but there was also an unmistakable thrill behind her eyes. This was what they were bred for – fighting and protecting what was theirs. I never felt more out of place, me and my frail lowlander's body, than in that moment.
I felt restless suddenly, and longed to go and see the action.
“Lady Bethia, no!” Winny cried, reaching out to grab me as I ran out of the tent. She was too late, and I followed the commotion, my breath coming in short gasps as I tried to catch up with the men. Although they were huge, they were incredibly fast, and it took everything I had just to get far enough ahead to find where they were going. I followed them as they climbed a large hill in the camp, and heard metal clanking as the men prepared to brawl.
I was fully panting by the time I climbed the hill, my legs shaky from the unexpected exertion. Once I reached the top of the hill, my eyes widened.
“Wolves!” I shouted.
All of the men, both O'Connells' and Lachlans', turned toward the sound of my voice. It was too late. Some of the O'Connell men were already being attacked by a small pack of wolves. Two of them were grey, and knocked the leader of the rival clan down to the ground. They began gnawing at the man, putting their giant grey paws on his suddenly vulnerable body. In the lead was another great white wolf, much like the one that had saved me on my journey to meet Lord Lachlan.
I watched in awe as the white wolf stood upright and backed away from the man on the ground, who was trembling and batting at the beasts in a futile effort to drive them away. The two grey wolves followed the white wolf's lead and backed away from the man. He got to his feet and gave an order, calling off the men who were attacking Lord Lachlan's clan.
“They don't know no better,” one of the highlander's said to me as both clans retreated from bloodshed.
They didn't know any better about what? Not encroaching on Lord Lachlan's clan? It seemed like such a silly dispute. The leader of the rival clan caught my eye as I watched the scene in a daze. He leered at me and sneered. Suddenly, I felt very vulnerable and I looked around for Lord Lachlan. For some reason, when I felt unsafe, he was the first person I thought to turn to. However, he was nowhere to be found. I figured that he must have snuck off while I was watching the wolves. I frowned and left the scene, eager to get away from the man as quickly as possible. I returned to my tent, shaken by the sudden violence and thankful that it had passed swiftly.
Chapter 6
After that incident, my view of the highlanders changed once again. Now I didn't see them as welcoming of outsiders, I saw them as unreasonable and thick-headed, unable to keep peace even among each other. That night, Winny explained how the clans worked. If we didn't take care of ourselves, she had said, then nobody would. We had to protect what was ours, at all costs. You didn't know who you could trust – all you had in this world was yourself. The O'Connells were bandits that had been terrorizing the roads in the highlands for ages. Lord Lachlan's clan had been lucky to escape their attentions for this long, but now they had finally been targeted.
The highlanders were a difficult brood to understand, but the fierce loyalty they had toward each other made me feel vaguely warm. It must have been nice to feel as if you belonged somewhere. Especially with someone as powerful as Lord Lachlan there to protect you. I had never felt very concerned for my life being raised in the lowlands, but I knew none of the peasants in our kingdom loved my parents the way the highlanders under Lord Lachlan's watchful eye seemed to love him. Even the men spoke fondly of him, praising his extraordinary talents. I had heard plenty of the women admiring his looks and his strength, each of them casting a jealous eye on me, especially after publicly scorning him as I had.
One afternoon, after lunch, I was surprised to see him approach me.
“Let's go for a walk,” he said. It was an offer, but it didn't seem like one that I could say no to. If Lord Lachlan asked you to walk with him, you walked. I could feel all eyes on us as we left the camp. Even though I was a little bit tall for my sex and my mother frequently reminded me of this, I felt dwarfed by the huge man. He seemed to feel perfectly at ease as he led me from the safety of the settlement and down a path I had never noticed into the woods.
We walked quietly, and I found myself deeply enjoying the solitude that the forest provided us. It was as if I were alone for the first time with the same gentle man who had rescued me. He sho
wed a peculiar reverence for the plants and trees as we walked, greeting some of them as if they were people, or touching their trunks gingerly as he passed. I had never seen anything like it, and realized that there was much more to the highlander way of life than I had ever imagined.
We reached a small stream and he crouched beside it, cupping some of the fresh spring water in his hands and sipping it. He offered his hands to me and I find myself fumbling over my words to avoid drinking from his hands. He quirked his eyebrow at me with a playful smile and I laughed, unable to resist his charms. I knelt in front of him, my knee pushed into the muddy bank beside him. For the first time in my life I realized I didn't have to worry about whether there was mud on my clothes, and it felt great.
I put my slender hands on top of his thick wrists to steady his hands. We gazed into each other's eyes for a moment before I drank deeply. The water was cold and refreshing. I could see Lord Lachlan's chest rising and falling. I was alarmingly close to his thighs, and I couldn't help but wonder if the rumors were true about the savage way highlander men refused to wear briefs under their kilts. I could feel a blush creep across my cheeks and Lord Lachlan looked at me as if he could see right through my curiosity.
He let the rest of the water drip through his hands and took my hands in his own. He looked at me intently, and I was captivated by his warm presence and the flecks of gold and green in his blue eyes.
“I don't wish to keep you here against your will,” he said. “This marriage was a gesture of good will toward us to seal a treaty of peace. I will keep my word to your family even if you choose to return to the lowlands.”
He brought my pale hand to his bronzed face and kissed it tenderly. His lips were warm and soft on my cool hands, igniting a fire I didn't know I was capable of stoking. The intensity of the longing I felt for him shocked me, and I stood quickly and hid my face from him.
“Let's not talk about this right now,” I said, my back turned to him. Suddenly, Kain was in my mind again and I remembered my hatred of the highlanders. There was no way I could be lured in by his sweet words. If he would let me go home, then that was exactly what I was going to do.
